title: Pleural fluid pseudouridine in malignant and benign pleural effusions.
abstract: Pseudouridine in urine and plasma has been proved to be a useful tumour marker in many malignant conditions. We studied its usefulness in pleural fluid for distinguishing malignant from non-malignant pleural effusions. Pleural fluid pseudouridine concentrations in different groups of patients with pleural effusion (31 malignant, 29 benign, 16 unknown, 1 double pathology) was measured and compared. Its usefulness in distinguishing malignant from non-malignant pleural effusions was analysed by receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Pseudouridine concentrations in the malignant group were significantly higher than the non-malignant group (P < 0.017, Bonferroni adjustment) with values overlapping extensively at the lower end. The area-under-the curve (AUC) value in the ROC curve analysis was 0.675 (P < 0.05). We conclude that the pleural fluid pseudouridine is of limited clinical value in distinguishing malignant from non-malignant pleural effusion due to its extensive overlap. However, it is useful when the concentration is higher than 65 mumol/L, which indicates malignancy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Pathology, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prince of Wales Hospital, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: T W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Mak
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Ho
authors.forename: C S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Ho
authors.forename: M G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: C K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: C W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Lam
mesh_terms: D019540:Area Under Curve; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D010996:Pleural Effusion / Q000737:chemistry*; D016066:Pleural Effusion, Malignant / Q000737:chemistry*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011560:Pseudouridine / Q000032:analysis*; D012372:ROC Curve; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D011560:Pseudouridine